Locking system and locks used therewith



Feb. 11, 1941. 1.. HANSEN LOCKING SYSTEM AND LOCKS USED THEREWITH vrmFiled March 27, 1940 Patented Feb.11,1941fl a 2,231,119

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE LOCKING SYSTEM AND LOCKS USE THEREWITHLorrin L. Hansen, Dear-born, Mich. z Application March 27, 1940, SerialNo. 325,297

. Claims. (01. 70-264) This invention relatesto a locking'system, and isused to throw the right-hand end of lever 9 locks used therewith. It isprimarily intended upwardly to move the pawl to such position that foruse upon automobilesthough it will be apits end will engage shoulder 8.The handle shank parent that it is susceptible of use in any relation2110f the secondary lock carries a crank extension 5 where the lock isto be electrically controlled from 2 I, which, when moved toward theleft, acts upon a distant/point, and especially where such control thetail 22 of a lever 23. This lever is pivotally is through a key actuatedmaster lock. connected to the main bolt 5 of the secondary Furtherobjects and advantages of the invenlock. tion will be more fully setforth in the detailed A stud 25 carried by the lower end of lever 23description based upon the-accompanying drawconstitutes a pivotalmounting for a bolt engag- 1 ing, wherein Fig. 1 is a diagrammaticelevation ing pawl 26 and an arm 21. A spring 28 tends of an associatedkey controlled master lock, and to move pawl 26 and arm 21 toward eachother, its electrically controlled secondary lock, and Fig. or so thattheywllllie side by side. i 2 is a fragmentary view showing some of theparts The arm 21 carries an electro-magnet 29, and

of the secondary lock in another position. when this magnet is energizedits core attracts 1.3

The master look A is ofthe' well-known and a foot 30, which is rigidlyattached to pawl 26. conventional type, of which hundreds of thou- Thus,if the magnet be not energized, the spring sands are in use uponautomobiles at this time, 28 will hold'the end of thepawl 26 in suchposia lock of this general character being shown, for tion that whensaid pawl is thrust toward the left example, in U. 8; Patent No.2,184,350 of Decemby the movement of thelower end of lever 23, no

ber 26, 1939. The outstanding characteristic of the end of the pawl willnot engage the shoulder these well-known locks is that instead of merely8 of bolt5 If, however,'the magnet be enerpositively locking their mainbolts, and the actugized, then the foot will be attracted'to move atinghandles thereof, against movement, the the pawl to the positionillustrated in Fig. l.

locking of the door is efiected; by disconnecting That is to say, atthis time, the pawl lies at such the handle from the bolt, so that thehandle may an angle, with respect to arm 21, that when said move throughits usual range, but without moving arm 21, pawl 23, and magnet 29, allmove bodily the bolt. toward the left, the end of the pawl will engageReferring now to the drawing, the main bolt shoulder 8 to retract thebolt "5, against th 30 5 of the. master lock may be moved 'under thetension of the usual spring 31.

influence of a handle 6, the shank of which is A flan e 3 is provided eStanda d lo shown in section, whenever a pawl 1 is elevatedconstruction, upon the upper end of lever 23, to so that its end engagesshoulder 8 on the main provide a portion against which the free end ofbolt. With the parts in the position illustrated pr 1' may th ust, and Iutilize the upp e d 5 in Fig. 1, the door is locked, because a lever 9,of this flange as the actuating means for another that is pivoted at 10,to the metallic shell l l of circuit-closer, comprising a e ely stiffarm the lock, has previously been moved by the action 33, and aresilient contact arm 34, the latter carof the key, not shown, uponthrust pin 12, to the rying a Contact Point A d g post 36, positionshown in said figure. suitably insulated from the metallic shell 31 ofThis action resulted in drawing the pawl 1 the lock arries acomplementary contact point downwardly through the tail extension I 3,said 38. 40 extension engaging the slot 14 of lever 9. Conse- A metallicpost 39, in electrical communication quently, when the handle 6 isturned to the right with the metallic base 31, supports the members tomove its attached crank arm l5 to the right 33 and 34.

to thrust against the lower end of lever 16, the A $011108 of electriccurrent. which ay be the 45 end of the bolt moves toward the right, butin a batte of an automobile, s indicated at 0- One plane below theshoulder- 8, and the bolt 5 is not side of this battery is connected bya conductor retracted. The pawl 1 is pivotally connected at 41 withbinding post 19, the current passing, at l1 to lever 16. My addition tothe main lock the proper time, through arm 18 and conductor resides onlyin providing an electric circuit closing 42, to binding post 43 on arm21. One side of the 50 contact mechanism comprising a spring arm I8,winding of magnet 29 is connected to binding which moves with lever 9,and a binding post post 43 by conductor 44. The other end of the IB,supported from the lock shell, and suitably magnet winding is groundedupon the metallic insulated therefrom. lug 45, said lug constituting apart of arm 21, The circuit is closed at this point when the key andserving to support the magnet upon said arm, 55

so that the magnet will partake of the bodily forward travel or saidarm, and the pawl 26. The circuit is completed through the metallic lockshell 31, post 39, contact arm 34, binding post 36, and a conductor 46,to the battery.

The throw of the parts is such that the very first part of the movementof handle 20 results in closing the circuit at contact arm 34. Thus,while the circuit is normally open at this point, and consequently thesecondary lock is normally in locked position, current is suppliedmomentarily to the magnet upon initial movement of handle 20.

This supply of current lasts long enough for "the pawl to be held in theposition shown in Fig.

1 until its end is further elevated, and engaged with shoulder i3 underthe action of the inclined slot 41 formed in the outer end of arm 21,and in which is engaged the shank of a stud 48 that is carried by theshell 31.

Immediately after the end of the pawl engages the shoulder 8 flange 32in its movement toward the right, rides off the hump 33 of arm 33, thusinterrupting the circuit through 35. Consequently it will be seen thatthe secondary door or doors are normally locked, but that they use nocurrent, except at the time of unlocking, and then only 40 because ofthe very short effective range of action of the ordinary electro-magnet.Since the force exerted decreases so rapidly as the distance betweenmagnetcore and armature increases, it follows that the arrangement ofparts which insures movement of magnet and pawl and armaturetogetherwill give highly eflicient results with great simplification ofstructure. I may include a conventional thermostatic cut-out asindicated Ito prevent overheating if the handle of the rear door be heldin circuit closing position an un natural length of time.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the preciseconstruction shown, but includes within its purview whatever changes 55fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appendedclaims.

Having described my invention, I claim: 1. A look comprising a mainbolt, a handle, a pawl actuated bodily laterally by saidhandle,

m saidbolt having a part adapted to be engaged by said pawl, meanstending to move the pawl out of engagement with the main bolt, and amagnet mounted to move bodily with the pawl in its lateral movement andacting upon said pawl when the magnet is energized to move the pawl intopositionlto engage the main bolt, after which movement of the pawl underthe influence of the handle efiects unlocking movement of the main bolt.

2. In combination a master lock for one closure and a secondarylock foranother closure, the master lock comprising a main bolt, a handle, amember the movement of which efiects connection between the main boltand handle, a key-controlled element adapted to engage and move saidmember to locking and unlocking position, a circuit closing meansassociated with said member arranged to be closed when the keycontrolledelement is moved to move the said member to unlocked position, thesecondary look also comprising a main bolt, a handle, a pawl movablebodily laterally by said handle capable of lyingin either of twopositions, in one of which it is adapted to engage its main bolt to movesaid bolt under the influence of the handle, and in the other of whichit is adapted to be moved by the handle in a path in which it does notengage said bolt, spring means tending to move the pawl to thelast-named position, a magnet bodily movable with the pawl in itslateral travel, acting, when energized, to move the pawl to boltenergizing position, and an electric circuit which includes both themagnet and the circuit closing means of the main lock.

3, A structure as recited in claim 2 comprising an additional circuitclosing means in said circuit located inthe secondary lock in a positionto be engaged by a moving part of said lock to close the circuit uponinitial movement of the handle of the secondary lock.

4. A structureas recited in claim 2 comprising an additional circuitclosing means in said circuit located in the secondary lock in aposition to be engaged by a moving part of said lock to close thecircuit upon initial movement of the handle of the secondary lock and tobreak said circuit after the pawl engages the bolt and before the bolthas been moved to unlocked position.

5. In a lock construction a bolt mounted for endwise movement, a pawllikewise mounted for bodily endwise movement and also pivoted so thatits free end may move toward and from the bolt, said pawl serving whenengaged with said bolt to thrust the bolt endwise when the pawl is movedendwise, a magnet, means for mounting the magnet to move bodily with thepawl in the endwise movement of said pawl, and a member carried by thepawl and arranged to be attracted by the magnet to thereby move the pawlinto bolt-engaging position.

LORRIN L. HANSEN.

